In Bloom
by American Soldier
Summary: Part 2 of the Nirvana Series, Smells Like Teen Spirit was the 1st. With the Mayor rising and Xander and Faith beginning their new relationship, problems multiply when Heidi makes her presence known.


In Bloom

Summary: as Ascension Day draws near, the gang must work themselves out to handle the situation as it draws near.

A/N: Second installment of what I'm calling the 'Nirvana' series, named after the band from whom I've borrowed the fictions' names. Enjoy!

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Sunnydale Hospital:

"Another senseless gangland killing," the head coroner, a middle-aged bald man with a gray beard, said with a sigh.

"Cut down in the prime of his youth," a redheaded nurse said with the shake of her head, "Dibs on his wallet."

"Damn it," the coroner said with a snarl, "You got the wallet last time!"

"So," the nurse said, sticking out her tongue, "I called it."

"Fine," the coroner said with a grin, holding up a knife as he did so, "But you get to do the autopsy."

"Whatever," the nurse said with a sigh.

She reached into the gang member's pocket and fished out his wallet, which the Sunnydale PD had been generous enough to not withhold alongside any of the evidence they had taken (which in and of itself amounted to one photo by their lab unit of what one officer thought to be a 70 year old penny). She opened it up and was happy to find almost a hundred dollars in small bills inside of it.

"Score," she said with a grin, "And credit cards and a coupon for a double-meat burger!"

"…Cut him open," the coroner said with a sigh.

"Victim died of bullet wounds to the chest," the nurse said as she examined the young man's body, "And appears to have had a secondary injury, knife looks like, to his liver post mortem. Hmm…look at how decayed these wounds are. It looks as though he died...almost two months ago, if I'm right, but this wound looks recent, couldn't be more than a day old."

"That's impossible," the coroner said, putting down his own knife beside the body to pick up his chart, "The police report him being seen as much as a week before his death, and reported there being blood still flowing from the wound when they'd arrived on scene."

"Then their reports must be wrong," the nurse argued, "Or…think he's a PCP?"

"Yeah," the coroner agreed, suddenly looking fearful, "Furnace?"

"Furnace," the nurse agreed, and both moved to the body.

"Wait," the coroner said, looking all around, "Where's my knife?"

Suddenly, the body sprung up on its own, moving with a speed that simply went against the norm. The body swiftly slashed open the coroner's throat, spurting out blood as he fell to the ground to die quietly.

The nurse screamed as the body came at her and tossed her effortlessly down to the ground. The body straddled her with a lecherous grin.

"Gimme my money, bitch," the body said to her.

Whimpering, the nurse reached into her pocket and handed the man back his wallet.

"Good," he said with a grin, replacing his wallet into his pocket, "Now, get up. You got a car?" she nodded, crying as she did so, "Good. You and me are going for a little drive."

Jack O'Toole was a violent, malicious man. He had a lust for violence that extended beyond death. But he was also a cautious man, a thinker and a planner. Not all the time, perhaps, but when it counted his head was in the game. When he had felt Xander stab him in the liver, Jack had known the game was up. All his allies were dead or had fled, and he was all alone against Harris and his friends. So, he had done the only thing he could think of…played dead.

It helped that he was already truly dead, so he was able to keep his eyes open and not breathe throughout the entire thing. His charade had been flawless.

Now, as he crept along the hospital corridors with the nurse in toe, Jack had only thoughts of vengeance on his mind. Vengeance against that bastard Harris, and against that bitch Heidi for abandoning him. First, though, he'd need his rest…and recovery.

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"Ok, Mr. Mayor," Heidi said as she walked into his office, a sultry smile on her face as she held the clipboard up, "Today, you have a meeting with the PTA about school reform at 11, a shaman is meeting with you at 1145 in regards to a virgin sacrifice, at 1 you have a meeting with the governor to discuss tourism, at 230 you have to perform a ritualistic slaughter with some demons of the…I can't pronounce the name."

"Devaunt tribe, dear," the Mayor said with a smile.

"Right, them," Heidi said in a noncommittal tone, "After that, you're free till 5 when the business reps come in to discuss the high turnover rate in their employees due to gang warfare, then you have one final matter, a séance with some doctor person thing."

"Excellent, Heidi," the Mayor said with a pleased grin, "A very well comprised schedule you've assembled for me," his grin turned into a frown, then, "Though I must say I dislike your ensemble."

Heidi looked down at her dress, a tight black dress that hugged her curves and showed off an indecent amount of skin and provided an excellent view of her expansive cleavage. She finished it off with a leopard scarf, fashionable and thin enough to be worn in the Californian heat…and she enjoyed it because she enjoyed eating leopards as well.

"I must insist that for as long as you are underneath my employ that you maintain a professional appearance," the Mayor said with a frown, "Now, I realize that the world has changed much in what is and what is not appropriate, but so long as I'm in office, you are to wear skirts of more acceptable length and your chest must not be so exposed. Are we clear?"

"With all due respect, Mr. Mayor," Heidi said sarcastically, "But you sold your soul to become a demon and intend on making virgin sacrifices and eating children when you ascend. What right do you have to tell me what to wear?"

"The right of a man with some self respect and self discipline," the Mayor responded with a glare, "Now, go and change this instant, young lady."

"No, I-" the Mayor glared at her even more, and suddenly Heidi felt death creeping up near her, "Yes, Sir! Sorry, Sir."

"There's a good girl," the Mayor said with a smile, and she felt him let go of her with his magics, "Also, while you're at it, would you mind pushing back the meeting with the PTA to 3, I'd like to spend this morning focusing my energies on the dark powers of this world. And, what the heck, afterwards we'll stop by the snowcone vendor and pick up some grape, how's that sound?"

"…Peachy, Sir," Heidi said with a forced smile as she turned away, "Peachy with a side of keen."

"That's my girl," the Mayor said with a laugh, turning away from her as she walked out the door.

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Xander sighed softly as he sat down at the library table, mindful of his injuries as he pulled out the latest batch of research that Giles wanted him to go through. After the stuff with Jack had come to an end, the group had been working tirelessly to try and figure out who it was that Balthazar had been speaking off when he had died. It was very disconcerting to have a dying enemy saying that there was someone else out there that was _worse_ than him.

Xander opened the book up and laid it flat in his lap, thinking back on the past few nights. After Jack had been taken care of, the group had relaxed and licked their wounds. Willow seemed particularly effected by that night, as she shied away from Faith every time they met, he figured because she remembered that they had fought rather savagely. It bothered him that she now knew that he had lied about what he remembered when he had been possessed, but knew that she would need time to come to terms with what had happened. He wouldn't push her.

Faith, on the other hand, had taken a very interesting turn, at least to him. While they were not official or anything yet, he had a gut feeling that they would be shortly. Mostly because she had kissed him when he had asked her to the Valentine's dance, but it was a gut feeling nonetheless. But after that, the two had been hanging out quite a bit more and were getting along a lot better than he had thought possible. It seemed like they would be official sooner rather than later and, truth be told, Xander had absolutely no problems with that.

Xander smiled at that thought, but his attention was drawn away from Faith as he heard someone walk down the stairs. He looked up and smiled as he saw Rhonda walk down towards him.

The girl had taken a bit of an interest in their group after Angel had evicted the hyena from her. He felt that it was more due to fear of the fact that Heidi was still out there than anything else, but he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. While most f his memories of her were primarily of her being an absolute bitch to him, Jesse, and Willow, as well as the hyena incident, he recognized that she had come to them about Heidi and Jack and, without her, Willow and several others probably would not be alive.

"Hey, Rhonda," he greeted her, pushing out a chair for her to take a seat in, "What's up?"

"Not too much, Xander," she said with a smile, sitting down beside him, "How 'bout you? More books?"

"More books," Xander confirmed with a sad grin, "Giles and the Wussy want to try and find out who this new big bad is before he rears his ugly head, like we'd ever be that lucky."

"I noticed you guys tend to have shitty luck," Rhonda said, laughing quietly as she did so, still shy being around them, "Hey, I'm having a party after Valentine's day. Just a quiet get-together with a couple of people I know. Wanna come?"

Xander though on it for a moment, then nodded his head, saying, "Sure, absolutely. Just no cookies, ok?"

"Right, no cookies," Rhonda said with a smile, "Well, spread the word for me, will you?"

"No prob," Xander said, but as Rhonda stood up to leave, he reached out and took her hand, saying, "Hey…you really should think about giving up selling those things. You get busted, and you'll go to jail…but if another dealer finds out, you could wind up dead."

"Xander, I've been selling these for over a year now," Rhonda said with a serious look, "I know the risks, but before Heidi, I never had any problems. I appreciate the concern, but for a high-school dropout in California, this is as good as it gets."

"…Maybe, but, that don't mean I gotta like it, young lady," Xander said, relieving some of the tension in the room while still getting his point across.

Rhonda stuck her tongue out at him, and he responded in kind.

"Alright, well, I do need to get going," she said, turning towards the doors, "You take care, X."

"You, too, Rhonda," Xander shouted back.

Sighing, Xander settled deeper into his chair, preparing for a few hours with dusty old books before he would drive out to Faith's apartment to spend some time with her.


End file.
